T Squared Deployed: an advanced escort procedure
27 Feb

T Squared Deployed: an advanced escort procedure

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Publication > Professional Mariner, Tugboats & Towing
The need to know how to effectively use tugs of various types to assist ships transiting a port at speed took on a greater urgency following several catastrophic tanker groundings involving large oil spills in the 1980s and 1990s. After these incidents, shipowners, ports and pilot associations began to work together to develop procedures to make the escorting of tankers…
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Drilling unit being towed south breaks loose, grounds on Alaska island
26 Feb

Drilling unit being towed south breaks loose, grounds on Alaska island

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Publication > Professional Mariner
A conical drilling unit being towed out of Alaska in near-hurricane conditions broke loose from tugboats and ran aground near Kodiak. The Royal Dutch Shell drill rig Kulluk beached along Sitkalidak Island on Dec. 31, 2012. Four tugboats had taken turns struggling to control it. It initially was being towed by new anchor-handler Aiviq, whose four engines failed three days…
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Tanker crashes into Baltimore coal dock, causing $22M in damage
26 Feb

Tanker crashes into Baltimore coal dock, causing $22M in damage

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Publication > Professional Mariner
A tanker struck a coal-unloading pier in Baltimore, heavily damaging the facility and shutting it down for months. The ship was briefly arrested while the dock owner pursued a damage claim that grew to $22 million. The 479-foot Wawasan Ruby, a Panama-flagged tank vessel, hit CSX Transportation’s Chesapeake Bay Marine Facility at Curtis Bay on Aug. 25, 2012. The ship…
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Bulk carrier strikes, destroys large section of trestle at B.C. coal terminal
26 Feb

Bulk carrier strikes, destroys large section of trestle at B.C. coal terminal

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Publication > Professional Mariner
A 939-foot coal carrier missed a turn and slammed into a causeway at a British Columbia terminal, destroying 400 feet of the trestle and conveyor. The Panamanian-flagged Cape Apricot severely damaged part of Westshore Terminals in Delta’s Roberts Bank, south of Vancouver. The accident at North America’s largest coal-export terminal happened at about 0100 on Dec. 7, 2012. The force…
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Patrol boat sinks in N.Y. bay after hatch cover was improperly opened to clear tangled line
26 Feb

Patrol boat sinks in N.Y. bay after hatch cover was improperly opened to clear tangled line

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Publication > Professional Mariner
A port authority’s patrol boat sank in a New York bay after a police officer mistakenly opened an inspection hatch below the waterline. A Moose Boat M2-37 operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey sank off Queens, N.Y., on Sept. 10, 2012. The accident happened at about 1600 off Breezy Point. “Something in the engine began…
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Alaska tug, barge run aground after towline parts in heavy weather
26 Feb

Alaska tug, barge run aground after towline parts in heavy weather

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Publication > Professional Mariner
A tugboat and barge ran aground in the Aleutian Islands after the towline snapped in high winds and seas. The towline broke while the 78-foot Northland Services tug Polar Wind was towing the barge Unimak Trader from Sand Point to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on Nov. 13, 2012. The tug grounded while the crew struggled to reconnect the towline in six-to-eight-foot…
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26 Feb

Coast Guard notes ‘overconfidence bias’ of docking pilot before crash

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Publication > Professional Mariner
The U.S. Coast Guard has focused on the behavior of a docking pilot in its probe of a 2011 collision between a containership and a tank barge near New Jersey’s Bergen Point. The 958-foot Maersk Wisconsin collided with the empty 390-foot barge RTC 102, which was being pushed by the tug Ruth M. Reinauer near the Bayonne Bridge on Dec.…
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Pilot error, hydrodynamics cited in ship collision in Texas channel
26 Feb

Pilot error, hydrodynamics cited in ship collision in Texas channel

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Publication > Professional Mariner
A pilot’s failure to account for bank-effect forces likely caused a 2011 collision between a tanker and a containership in the Houston Ship Channel, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The Houston Pilots Association disagreed with the agency’s findings, claiming the accident was caused by a towboat that merged into the channel just before the collision. The 799-foot…
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